American accounting student wins international poker tournament

Student loans might be a top concern for many of today's college students, but poker is on the mind of one student who took home the top prize, about $450,000 in U.S. dollars, in last week's Asia pacific Poker Tour, Asia's largest ever poker tournament.

The Macau Daily Times reported that Eddie Sabat, a 22-year-old accounting student at the University of Southern California, outmaneuvered 538 players to claim 3.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($453,851 U.S.) in prize money at the final table of Asia's largest ever poker tournament, Asia Pacific Poker Tour. Sabat beat Malaysia's Charles Chua with a diamond flush, in the final marathon match that stretched out over 12 hours.

Sabat also finished in the money twice at the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

"This has been an unbelievable journey and I really don't think I will realize what I have just accomplished until I go to bed and wake-up in the morning, it's like a dream right now," said Sabat. "I really can't wait to just get back to my apartment in Los Angeles and chill."

Sabat picked his way through a minefield of world class poker legends and professionals, including famed Team PokerStars Professionals: 2005 World Champion Joe Hachem, 2008 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Winner, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and the up and coming Shanghai, China native Celina Lin. The all star field also included poker great Johnny 'The Orient Express' Chan, one of the world's most acclaimed poker players, amassing 10 World Series of Poker bracelets and more than 6.7 million U.S. dollars in tournament earnings over his career, according to the Macau Daily Times report.